New lawmakers show diversity and fresh faces

Tuesday’s midterm election proved the pollsters correct, for once, said many, and gave the House to the Democrats, but it also gave a number of firsts, one being a huge voter turnout among the young, and secondly a handful of women that were minority women, of color, and of religion. And, one outlier in the form of the unresolved gubernatorial election in Georgia, where Stacy Abrams, is less than a sliver away from a recount, and in a state where voter suppression ruled, and where her opponent, as secretary, of state that there were 25,000 ballots that had not been counted.

One big surprise was the defeat of Joe Donnelly, in Indiana to Mike Braun, 43.4 to 52.6, for the Senate, considering that he was one of the most conservative Democrats on the HIll; and Ted Cruz fending off a very strong lead from Beto O’Rourke  and the recount in the Florida Senate, where Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum was defeated by DeSantis in an election that was marred by racial animus, with a razor thin victory for Desantis with 49.6 versus, 49.2 for Gillum.

Adding to the mix was the victory on the Cook County Board of Commissioners for an openly gay man, Kevin Morrison, formerly a full-time field organizer for Hillary Clinton, and who seemed to have learned from that experience by knocking on doors, and emphasizing “bread and butter” issues such as health care, and property taxes strategically reached out to working class people.

Kevin Morrison

Welcome news for many was the defeat of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the union busting arch conservative who lost to Tony Evers, by 31,000 votes, and who scaled back Obama era environmental protections.

While veteran lawmaker Nancy Pelosi is poised to resume her role as Speaker of the House, there is also the calls for impeachment by the party’s radical left, and those on the right that want to see democratic governance, and that now faces the absence of Jeff Sessions as attorney general, and an acting AG that says he will not recuse himself from the Mueller investigation, and which is going to give a real push to any moderate efforts that Pelosi may want and to maneuver with a president that does not want to play fair, at all.

While the appearance of malfeasance on the part of Trump can be debated, its apparent that, as with former FBI director, James Comey, that Trump is afraid of the findings of the Russian collusion with he and his family. But, the road to perdition may not happen, with many of his supporters backing him, to the point of insulation, despite the findings of the special investigation.

The turnout by youth also will galvanize the need for gun control, always a hot button issue, with seemingly monthly mass shootings, and the need for health care that most exit polls showed to be of great concern, and that was promulgated by the Democrats.

Women seem to have been galvanized by the Women's March and the #MeToo movement have surged ahead, and in unexpected places such as Illinois, where in the 14th Congressional District, a largely white suburban area, with DeKalb, Du Page, and Lake County, as part elected a 32-year-old black woman Lauren Underwood, who defeated a four-term Republican incumbent, Randy Hultgren, showing not only a step toward racial inclusiveness, but that the profile of women elected officials is younger, browner, and blacker than previously thought possible.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sailed in New York, after her supreme primary victory, as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. And, in another victory for women of color, Jahana Hayes was elected as the first black women representing Connecticut in the House.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Close behind were Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia as the first Latina women to represent Texas in Congress.

Making another historic inroad were Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American as the first Muslim woman elected to Congress, representing Michigan and Minnesota respectively.

While some observers and voters are wary of a divided Congress, this is not an expression of defeat, but more of a battle, say some, and a return to those lessons taught in civics classes across America.  And, Pelosi put it well, when she said, “Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans. It is about restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration.”

There will be cries for impeachment of Trump, and incoming House Judiciary chairman, Jerry Nadler, said last year: “If you are actually going to remove a president from office, you are in effect nullifying the last election. Certainly the people who voted for him will think you’re nullifying the election. It’s OK to do that. It may be necessary to do that—as long as you have persuaded a sufficient fraction of the president’s former supporters, the people who voted for him, that you have to, that it’s necessary.”

For those that expected the millennials to stay at home, there was a big surprise: In Chicago alone, for those aged 25 to 34, there were 162,000 voters from their ranks, just behind those from 55 to 64, with 142,000 votes reported the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

The real clincher was the 18 to 29 year-olds whose votes exceeded 31 percent, the highest in the 25 years of midterm history.

“According to TargetSmart, a political data analysis firm, early voting among 18- to 29-year-olds escalated with a 188 percent increase from 2014. States with particularly close races had an even more intense increase in youth voters in comparison to the 2014 election, with a fivefold increase in states like Texas and Nevada,” reported The Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper at Northwestern University.

Co-president of Northwestern College Democrats Claire Bugos, noted that, “The Marjory Stoneman Douglas students led a revolt against the gun laws we have in this country,” and, “I think that we’ve seen those pockets of youth discontent throughout the presidency. Young people see the midterms as a way to easily have a say in their government, and they’re taking advantage of that.”

In the days, and weeks, ahead, final vote tallies will be had, and then the real work of legislating will begin anew with new faces, as they tackle the challenges of a divided country.